


phone a friend

by Guzmanasol



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Folklore, Multi, Poly-V, Pre-Poly, Washington Capitals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 09:05:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13431450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guzmanasol/pseuds/Guzmanasol
Summary: When you've been friends for so long, eventually your taste in men becomes very similar.





	phone a friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yeswayappianway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeswayappianway/gifts).



> For the prompt-- "them as a happy functional polyamorous relationship, even if (especially if?) they aren't all equally involved with each other but they do all like each other. i think this would be very fun as a canon thing where they go to fancy events together and confuse everyone with who's together, or maybe a non-hockey au where nicky and nastya are friends before either of them get together with ovi, or some sort of supernatural au (a werewolf, a witch, and a vampire all walk into a bar... or a hockey rink)." 
> 
> I tried to hit elements of all of this, because that's initially how I read it whoops. It was incredibly fun to do, so thank you for such an awesome prompt!

The thing no one seems to realize is that Nicky met Nastya first. 

Her name wasn’t Nastasiya then, of course. His wasn’t Nicklas, either, but that’s not really important. When you have lives as long as they do, names-- ordinary, everyone may know them and use them names-- are meant to be disposable. So he wasn’t Nicky then and she wasn’t Nastya, but they were still themselves. Because they are themselves, they fall in and out of each other’s lives, but they always stumble back in eventually. Going decades between meetings is mundane for their kinds.

Admittedly, this is the first time in the seven hundred or so years that they’ve known each other that he’s found her in his bed unexpectedly. Well, Alex’s bed technically, but Nicky’s spent enough nights there to feel justified in calling it his, even if he hasn’t slept over in a few days. He’d been exhausted most nights, and going on dates that ended with him in other people’s beds when he wasn’t-- much like Alex was. After the comments about meeting the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen and the love struck look on Alex’s face after last night’s game, finding her in his bed makes much more sense. Nicky has to laugh, because of course she found a new way of surprising him. It’s one of her favorite things to do, and Nicky will be grateful that the tales are wrong when they paint her as harsh and cruel. Her surprises are pleasant, delightful on occasion, and Nicky has never needed the supplies he keeps in the nightstand and the kitchen to clean up after one (which is more than he can say for some of Alex’s surprises). 

“Dearest, are you that surprised to see me?” It’s strange, to hear the old tongue after so long, but he appreciates that she doesn’t make him dredge up what little Russian he’s hung onto over the years. He takes a moment to set down his coffee on the nightstand before he lets himself flop onto the bed next to her. It’s still warm, which means that Alex didn’t leave that long ago. It’s unusual for him to be up and out the door so early, especially when he has company in bed. He’s ruined Nicky’s original plan of coffee and laughing at ugly products on home shopping channels. But Nicklas is grateful Alex is gone, unintentionally giving them time to sort out who they are now, who knows what, and what they’re both willing to share.

“Yes. Normally you start a few rumors that you’re in the area before you show up.” She loves a good entrance and he is an appreciative audience. It makes her laugh, giggle really-- as strange as it is to think of a woman of over a thousand years giggling. He’s missed her, laugh and all, and he hopes she’ll stick around with Alex. Even with so many werewolves, and a few vampires even, on the team, it still gets lonely knowing that they won’t be around for more than a century or two and having her around more frequently will be comforting. 

“I thought I’d try something new” is all she says before she rolls over to face him fully. She’s still beautiful, he notes, not surprised-- anything powerful enough to change her would have changed him as well. They’re old enough that holding themselves in these forms doesn’t require any conscious thought, old enough to not even flinch at some of the more minor flares from the ley lines. He’s quiet for a few moments as she looks him over, let’s her asses him and draw her conclusions. 

“And what’s new about this? It’s far from the first time you haven’t known anyone to spread your rumors,” and she half-heartedly glares at him, annoyed at the reminder of the times she didn’t have a network in place before she arrived (Nicky doesn’t let himself brood about why they’d had to flee so abruptly all those times) and he gives her an apologetic smile before continuing, “You’ve taken werewolves as lovers before, even married one or two as I recall. And I’m an old, old acquaintance.”

“Seven hundred and seven years I’ve known you, and still you claim to be only an acquaintance,” and now she’s truly glaring at him, but the effect is ruined by the way her mouth twitches. It’s telling-- both her face, and her protest at “just acquaintances”. Nicky can’t remember the last time they actually acknowledged how long and how well they’ve known each other. It’s …. intriguing, if he had to pick a word to describe how it feels. 

“It’s hard to claim to be a dear, dear friend when I don’t even know what name you’re going by this time.” 

“Nastasiya Shubskaya, Nastya. And you?”

“Nicklas Backstrom,” he pauses, remembers there’s more to his name this time, “Lars Nicklas Backstrom, but you might as well join everyone else in calling me Nicky.” 

“So you’re the partner,” and Nastya grins, apparently delighted with this development. Nicky relaxes at that, because not getting along with Alex’s other partners feels wrong, sets his teeth on edge. He’s gotten on well with Nastya before, and he has no doubt that they’ll get on well now even if they don’t wind up being more than what they’ve been before.  


“And you’re the charming woman in Starbucks.”

“So he’s already told you,” it’s quiet but pleased, and Nastya grins before continuing, “now should we let him find us catching up here or surprise him at casino night on Saturday?”  


Nicky thinks it over for a minute, weighs his desire to surprise Alex with the fact that they’ll be at Casino night for hours before they can make a break for either of their homes and Alex can demonstrate his delight. It’s tempting, and Nastya hasn’t indicated any preference. 

“Let him find us now, and then we can get him to help us fuck with everyone else at Casino night.” It’s been too long since the kids had a shock, and with three days to muddle Alex’s scent, they’ll spend the entire night trying to figure out what’s going on and skipping over the obvious, though the older werewolves will clue in quickly. The thought of his supernatural teammates reminds Nicky that he hasn’t asked if Alex is aware of Nastya’s… background. 

“Does Alex… have you told him about-” Nicky cuts himself off, waving a hand to try and encompass everything without committing to words. Nastya might have told him about being a skogsrå, but not mentioned her connections to their world-- including the ones that came about because of her previous relationships. Or she might not have told him anything at all yet, because for all that Alex has a well honed sense of smell as an adult werewolf, it’s no match for someone as old as Nicky or Nastya if they don’t want him to smell the difference. 

“He knows the broad points. I’m waiting a bit to tell him the details,” and Nastya’s face looks as pinched and haunted as Nicky’s feels. They’ve had lovers, spouses, children (very few, but all the more precious for surviving long enough to be named and known), and all of them have left marks that ache. Nicklas has only told Alex about a few, on rare moments when he can bring himself to share-- about his first daughter, who only lived to four hundred but caused enough chaos for a millenium, about the times he’s pretended to be his own great-grandson, about the first time he was able to hold himself in a form that looked human. He understands why she’d wait a bit to share those old hurts. 

They’re quiet after, sunshine starting to push past the blinds and warm the room. Nicklas is tired, had been when he’d gotten up early to drive over to Alex’s, and he’s safe. Nastya cocoons herself in a blanket, but shifts back enough to share a pillow with him. They drowse, warm and content. They don’t remember falling asleep.  
That’s how Alex finds them once he gets back from the interview for Modern Luxury’s profile on D.C. athletes. He debates waking them up, but really he’s cold and tired and they have the right idea with sleeping in-- at least until he and Nicky have to go in for workouts and film. 

 

They also had the right idea about messing with their teammates at Casino Night, Alex is pleased to discover. Their teammates with supernatural senses have been confused and trying to subtly sniff both Nicky and Alex all night. The teammates without those senses actually seem to have clued in faster (admittedly, when Nastya grabbed Alex’s ass before kissing Nicky’s cheek and sending them off to get stabbed by interns with boutonnieres she wasn’t being subtle), though a handful were too absorbed in flirting shamelessly to pay attention to their teammates and what exactly it meant that Nicky, Nastya, and Alex all showed up together. 

Willy’s nose hasn’t stopped twitching all night and he almost gave himself whiplash turning his head to look at Nicky by the poker tables and Nastya at the bar and back again once he got a good scent from Alex. Nicky hasn’t stopped smirking since Carly had gotten a good whiff of him and couldn’t stop sneezing as they were shepherded to the same poker table for photos. Nastya and Varvara were giggling at the bar, checking out their partners and making some sort of plan. Given how well they’d gotten on since they’d been introduced three hours ago, Alex was sure that they’d be making many more plans. He was only slightly terrified. 

It was Burkie who actually gave in and asked Alex about it first. “You and Papa… are you guys good? You kind of smell….” He didn’t finish his sentence, instead jerking his head towards Nastya at the bar in a way he probably thought was subtle. 

“We’re good, all of us,” and Burkie makes a face, and Alex swears he can hear his brain start adding that together. He grins and looks for his partners-- Nicky has joined Nastya at the bar, pressed up against her back and making a face at the options. He bitches about it every time because he and Holts are hipsters who love their microbrews. Burkie makes a strangled sounding noise and mutters profanely, something about owing Osh money.

It won’t be the only money exchanging hands tonight, Alex knows, because he’s smelled more and more like a mix of Nastya-and-Nicky, but Nicky has only had faint traces of Nastya to go with the way he’s smelled like Alex for years now. It’s clearer outside of the room, in a clean hotel ballroom that isn’t filled with sweating hockey players. It will only get stronger he knows, if it goes the way he expects and Nastya stays over more, maybe even moves in (it’s early, he knows, but he loves having Nicky and Nastya filling up his house-- even if they team up and give him so much shit for his very stylish and very comfortable jeans). They’ve got time, Nicky and Nastya more than him, he acknowledges, but time nonetheless. They’ll make it work.

**Author's Note:**

> My thoughts re: what Nicky and Nastya are-- Nicky is a Näck, Nastya is a skogsrå, but the mythology built up around them is only partially true (aka i needed to tweak a few things). Alex is a more common werewolf. Modern society is a bit more aware and accepting of your more common supernatural


End file.
